I confess, in my callow youth I was critical of Doris Day - her appearance, manner and general aura, which seemed so pert, accommodating and just generally reeking of repressed glass-of-white-milkniceness. At that time, the 50s era hadn't yet taken on it's cool retro cachet and it seemed to my sensitive fashion palette an era of excessive bad taste mingled with blatant sexism. I was a 70s snob (yes I know, the 70's! In itself, a fashion disaster).

However, over the years, I've changed my mind about Ms Day. Whether this can be put down to to general maturity or a growing nostalgic wistfulness for the 1950s, I can't say but I'm now prepared to admit that there was more to Doris than meets the eye. She had something...a je ne sais quo, that stretched beyond the full skirted curviness of her figure, white teeth, sparkling blue eyes, the sexy, whispery, breathless....and yet, forceful way of talking and of course her, powerful singing voice. How she used to belt out those numbers, with a voice as clear and clean as rain on a tin roof.

But down to hair...

the blonde is beautiful philosophy

It seemed to me and still does, that much of Doris's fetching perkiness emanated form her crisp blonde hairstyles and the hair itself, with it's suggestive synthentic doll texture and luminous, equally manufactured colour tones. So Hollywood and yet at the same time, so housewife/good girl. Less tarty than Lana Turner's platinum poof but more oomphy than June Alyson's anal bob. How did she pull it off?

Doris Day could never have been dark. It wouldn't have worked. So much of her image relied on the clean clear purity of a golden halo. She was a kind of refined Betty Grable, with perky Ginger Rogers overtones. Never an obvious vamp in the blonde Jean Harlow sense... but rather a dangerous woman of a more subtle, complex strain - exuding part worldly, womanly vixen and part homespun, earthy domestic warmth. Wow, she was hot!

So young..so nice

Decades of Day

Day's hair went through several transmutations over the decades but it's luminous essence remained the same : always blonde, cute and fresh, with fetching waves and contrivances in the right places.

EarlyDays

Doris Day, from romance on the high seas

Born in 1922, the singer had her first big hit in 1945, with the classic melody, Sentimental Journeyand from that pivotal point, she never looked back, career-wise. that early musical success led to a lengthy movie career and she made 39 films in all, beginning with the technicolor extravaganza, romance on the High seas, in the late 1940s. Here, Day's hair was moulded into typically 40s, stylised oomph concoction, with bushy, careful, long curls and scrolled up bangs. and of course, very blonde. It was, for the times, a young, bouncy look that perfectly suited day's vivacious personality.

In the 1950s Doris's hair took on a more sophisticated look, in keeping with the changing styles of a new, modern post-war era. Shorter hair was the go, but it was no less blonde. In this decade, Doris wore her hair pinned up or cut into a classically 50s short bob. It was a more mature look but no less pert than the previous decade. Doris's hair was nothing, if not assertive.

pinned up glamour with Cary grant in that touch of mink

One of Day's biggest film role in the 50s was her portrayal of singer Ruth Etting in the 1955 film love me or leave me, co-starring with legend, James Cagney and her hair radiated the jazzy, sexy appeal of a 50s gamine. The film was a critical and commercial success and further cemented Doris Day as a major talent, as well as a considerable box office draw.

doris day, hot as hades in love me or leave me, 1955.

classic day and hudson, from pillow talk, 1959

Toward the end of the decade, Day launched into the series of profitable, light romantic comedies with hollywood gay hunks Rock Hudson and Cary Grant, for which she is perhaps best known - think pillow Talk. in these films our heroine's hair was less sexy round the edges and more cute and respectable bobsy, in keeping with the squeaky clean tone of the films. It was, after all, the twin bed era.

Doris Day, mature and stylish in a pillbox hat. from midnight lace 1960

the 60s and beyond

still a bob - but longer. Doris Day in the 60s

As the radical 60s swung into action, Doris grooved things up in the hair department, growing her still gold locks into a longer bob and later, for her tv series, the Doris Day how, which ran from 1968 to 73 a youthful ponytail. By now in her 40s [and in the 70s] her 50s, she still looked good. throughout her career, the hugely successful singer/actress managed to project a fun and sexy, yet level-headed image that women aspired to and men admired. MsDay was the quintessential all-round gal.

Hayley Mills made her acting debut at the age of thirteen, when she appeared in the 1959 film Tiger Bay,with her famous actor father, John MIlls and which she won a Bafta Award for, as Best Newcomer. Originally, a boy had been planned for the role but since director, J Lee Thompson was having trouble finding the right boy, Mills suggested his daughter Hayley for the role.

Tiger Bay had an authenticity to it, which Hayley's performance enhanced and her natural charm, beauty and unaffected attitude caught the eye of Walt Disney's wife, Lilian, who suggeted her for the role of Pollyanna (1960) which led to a string of work with the Disney Studio, including The Parent Trap(1961), Summer Magic and That Darn Cat (1965).

Hayley Mills in a still shot from Tiger Bay

Hayley Mills in her Pollyanna days

A Star

As a young performer, Hayley proved to be very popular with baby-boomer audiences world-wide and wonan Oscar for Best Juvenile Performance for Pollyanna. Visually, the camera loved her and her soft, English wispy voice was innocently seductive. Not so great for singing however and although she made it to number 8 on the charts with the theme for The Parent Trap and had some success with a few other promotional songs, after her debut album, Let's Get Together, her singing career went not much further. Her chart success had more to do with her personal charms and popularity than her vocals.

Mills came from an established show biz family herself. Her father John Mills was already an established star long before she appeared in Tiger Bay, her elder sister Juliet Mills, is also an actress and her Mother Mary, Hayley Bell was an authoress, who wrote Whistle Down the Wind (Hayley starred in the film version),Sky West and Crooked, and The Winged Boy. Playwright Noel Coward and consumate actor Laurence Olivier were her god fathers.

Most Popular Teen of the Decade

Hayley's star rose in paralell with the sixties generation and she was in some ways an amalgamation of two eras. An attractive style and modern parlance and clothes ensured her relevance but she was also a darling of the older generation - polite, squeaky clean, respectful and mannered in a way that was reminiscent of the fifties. It was only when she began to lose her innocence and take on more adult character roles that her luminous star waned.

Poster by Paul Wenzel, 1963, for Walt Disney's "Summer Magic"

Hayley, Roy and son Crispian

Hayley's Marriage to Roy Boulting

In 1971 Hayley Mills stirred the pot by marrying film direct Roy Boutling, thirty-three years hers senior. The pair had met on the set of The Family Way (1967) , which Roy directed and it was a milestone film, not only because of their relationship but it had shattered the sugary sweet, innocent image of Hayley Mills - it was her first real adult film.

Along with his identical twin brother John, Roy was a part of the directing team known as The Boulting Brothers, who produced some classic comedies in the late 1950's and 1960's. Roy and Hayley divorced in the late 1970's and produced a son, Crispian from the union. A second son, Jason Lawson, was born in 1977, the result of a subsequent relationship with British actor Leigh Lawson, who went on to marry Iconic sixties model Twiggy.

Of relationships, Hayley once remarked: “You are either old souls who connect and share the same interests... or you are not.”

Adult Career

After starring in the weird little thriller,The Twisted Nerve in 1968 with Hywell Bennett, Hayley's career began to slide. Apart from the fact that she was now all grown up and a busy mother, her adult performances lacked the zing and charisma of her teen performances. Although she continued to work on stage and in the odd film, plus made-for-TVParent Trap sequels and like many fading stars, dutifully appeared onThe Love Boat (four times... she never matched those early heights of her career again. Perhaps she never felt the need to.

In the 1980's Hayley Mills returned to the small screen with a successful British miniseries The Flame Trees of Thika (1981), and keeping up the African theme, also starred in an ITV series, playing an expatriate British vet's mother-in-law in Wild at Heart(2007) .